Baby Quilt

Before the Christmas crafting began in earnest I made a baby quilt for my new niece. I found the pictures of it lurking on the computer and realized I had forgotten to share it. Here is my version of this quilt found on Moda Bake Shop. I left out the words and chose colors that are a little less...well, just less. If you're a fan of vibrant colors, be sure to check the link to see photos of the original. Mine is also quite a bit smaller than the pattern, both in over-all size and the size of the blocks and applique. I made the hexagons starting with a 5 inch square. I can post the mini-sized applique pieces I used if anyone is interested in making a baby version like this one.



I used comfy, fuzzy fabric for the back. You can see that it's tied, so I guess it's not technically a quilt. But it's nice and warm for a December baby. With pretty appliqued flowers

And polka dots




I hope they like it.

Birthday Dress

Baby's Birthday dress made of chilly-weather corduroy. The color is lovely but a bit plain on its own. So I made a yoke with some pleats underneath and a bit of embroidery. Here it is holding still:


My attempt at embroidery:

Aaand here it is modeled and blurry:

Hrmph

We found the movie Lilo & Stitch at the thrift store and Buggy promptly became obsessed. She likes to dance along with the hula parts of the movie, so I found a Hula for Kids DVD and had the grand idea that I would make a grass skirt to go along as a Christmas gift. Ha!

It was going great, I even made spanky pants to go underneath because I knew she would insist on wearing it when people came to visit:

Then when the waistband was in, it was all but done and I was patting myself on the back, I cut the tulle into strips to resemble grass. And that's how I ended up with this hot mess:

Hrmph.

Advent Calendar

We've never had an Advent Calendar in our home until last year when someone gave the family one as a gift. About the same time I saw this post on Ikat Bag for the calendar she made with her kiddos. And I've had the idea stuck in my head since then.
Here is our attempt at it:

We made our trees the same and decorated them with a bag of 'spangles'. Even the baby got in on the fun, her trees are the ones that look like they are leaking sap.
Then I hot-glued the trees to a piece of foam core from the Dollar Store and topped it off with a sprinkle of fake snow.

I try to find ways to include the true meaning of Christmas as we make our own traditions. So I wrote the Christmas story out, as it might make sense to a 5 year old, on 24 pieces of paper and tucked them up inside. Of course, there is also chocolate, little ornaments, and small toys in there as well.
Our trees do not have stars on them, but they do have a very important feature. See the little holes in the top? I wanted to include little slips of paper with fun things to do like getting our tree, baking cookies, etc; but I worried that we would pop the tree open and the surprise inside wouldn't be feasible with the schedule (or lack thereof) for the day. And I would be stuck with either disappointed little girls or trying to MAKE everybody have fun in a hurry. Yay, how festive.
So when inspiration strikes, I can just roll a piece of paper with the surprise and stick it in the hole.

And you thought I was just a sloppy tree maker. Oh no, there is a method to the madness. Well, plus I'm sloppy.